The internet is a marvelous place where international borders mean little like they used to. If something happened in Japan ten years ago, eagerly reading the results online and waiting for a few weeks before you could have someone send you a DVD (or even -- GASP -- VHS tape) of the event to check out for yourself was commonplace. Now there are ways to stream events live as they happen, and if they aren't available to be streamed, they are shared around the internet at the blink of an eye. That is magic, folks. As someone who has been ordering K-1 and Japanese MMA tapes since the mid-90's, it is mind-boggling how much better we have it now and how easy it is to follow your favorite athletes.

All of this is a lead-in to this; Inoki Genome Federation is Antonio Inoki's pro wrestling promotion in Japan. The catch is, Inoki has a good relationship with many professional fighters and he fancies himself one of the true pioneers of Mixed Martial Arts. This means his brand of pro wrestling is a lot different from when he promoted New Japan Pro Wrestling and more resembles the style that he attempted to introduce to New Japan that nearly ran the company into the ground; Shoot Style. It is the kind of action that blurs reality from fiction and is entertaining. Sit back and watch as your favorite K-1 and MMA fighters go toe-to-toe in pre-scripted drama that is pro wrestling. Also note that wow, Nagashima is big, one source has claimed he is as high as 90kg. That is 198 pounds. [source]

Over the weekend Peter Aerts and Ernesto Hoost met for the sixth time in the ring under the WKO (World Kumite Organization) banner. It was an interesting affair with a lot of old K-1 names in attendance, including Kazuyoshi Ishii himself, which should raise a few eyebrows. We've all been eagerly awaiting the footage from the fight, especially knowing that there were film crews there taping the fight, but none of that has surfaced just yet.

Instead, our friends at FightStadium went ahead and pieced together some of the footage that had been floating around online of the fight. It's not pretty, but you can at least see what went down. There has been talk of a potential rematch since Aerts claims that he only had three weeks to train, plus there was talk of a gentlemen's agreement to go easy on his legs since he requires knee surgery in the near future.

Today in Dubai Badr Hari competed in the Global FC 3 Heavyweight Kickboxing tournament in a field that saw Hari, Leko, Oborotov and Graham, making for an interesting blend of old talent and new talent. The big news is that Badr Hari walked away from Global FC 3 with a new belt and some more money in his pocket after he was able to knock out both opponents in short order. First up was Stefan Leko, a guy who used to be one of the world's elite and is now competing beyond his means, to the extent where I almost refuse to watch him fight anymore.

Leko almost had nothing to offer Hari, almost being put down immediately in the first round. He fought back to his feet, though, only to be dropped again and for the referee to stop the bout. Badr Hari's second fight of the evening saw him meeting an old foe in Peter Graham. The two had traded wins over seven years ago, but time was not kind to Peter Graham who found himself knocked down twice in round one as well and Badr Hari having a relatively easy night.

On the other side of the spectrum, Peter Aerts tore his hamstring against Dewey Cooper and both men had a clinch-heavy fight that saw the judges render it a draw. Tough break for Peter Aerts, but it might be time for him to consider spending time with his family, his gym and wrestling more in Japan.

It has been a slow time of the year for news regarding K-1, at least in the way of positive K-1 news. Amidst all of the turmoil, it is still uncertain if we'll see a K-1 World Grand Prix this year. With that sort of uncertainty, I feel like it is time to take a look back at what made K-1 just so great and loved by many fans. The K-1 World Grand Prix began in 1993 and has stretched on, yearly, until 2010, and in those years we saw stars built and saw them live out the remainder of their careers in that tournament.

GLORY 13 might still be a ways off, but that doesn't mean that we can't want to know more about it, right? We already know that it will feature the GLORY Welterweight tournament, featuring Nieky Holzken, Joseph Valtellini, Marc DeBonte and Karapet Karapetyan, but still nothing about Super Fights just yet. There have been names flying around for a while now; Peter Aerts, Jerome Le Banner, you know, the ones that you'd expect for a show in Japan. It turns out that Peter Aerts will indeed be fighting on the GLORY 13 card, if this rumor turns out to be true.

What is that rumor? That Peter Aerts will be squaring off against newly-crowned GLORY 11 Heavyweight Champion Rico Verhoeven. That is a huge fight, as Aerts is reaching the twilight of his career and is looking to retire soon while Rico's career is on a serious uptick thanks to his victories over Saki and Ghita at GLORY 11.

FightstarTV is one of the few websites that brings fresh, unique video content from the world of Dutch kickboxing, and never to disappoint, they walked through the opening of Peter Aerts' new gym in the Netherlands where the Dutch Lumberjack has vowed to help other fighters train and learn proper technique.

Watch as Mr. K-1 gives a guide through his new gym including the upstairs with a juice bar and a balcony overlooking the gym floor. [source]

When it comes to Peter Aerts I fear that I'll always be biased, as he was the guy who really got me into Kickboxing. It was one of those memories that I'll never shake free of and never plan on forgetting, the 1994 K-1 World Grand Prix. So this talk of retirement is a bit harrowing, even if he is 43 years old and it might be time to hang 'em up for his own safety.

Put Peter Aerts in a fight and I'll always believe that he has a fighting chance of walking away victorious in that fight. Why? Because he is Peter Aerts. That's why.

The news from Japan today was that Peter Aerts was going to be retiring at GLORY 13, but you know, it is a translation and can be rough. We received confirmation from a GLORY official today that this will be Peter's retirement in Japan, much like his It's Showtime bout against Tyrone Spong was his BeNeLux retirement. This means that this isn't the final curtain call for the Dutch Lumberjack, but still be prepared for that.

Some of our sources are sticking to their guns that this will be Peter's full retirement, but for now, who knows? GLORY's Japanese PR people are also selling this event as a "Farewell to an Era" with Peter Aerts, Remy Bonjasky and Semmy Schilt. Their retirements could be a very real part of this show.

GLORY 13 has really been shaping up for being the card of the year thus far, with big fights from Peter Aerts, Remy Bonjasky, Daniel Ghita, etc. I mean, there is just so much going on for GLORY 13 as it is and they went and just made it a bigger deal with two new fights signed for the event. Those fights, you might ask (and neglected to read the headline)?

Hesdy Gerges vs. Ewerton Teixeira

Mosab Amrani vs. Yuta Kubo

First thing is first, this marks the return of Brazilian K-1 star Ewerton Teixeira who has not been seen in a Kickboxing ring since the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010. For a lot of fans they might see him as a more conservative fighter, or the guy that guy kneed to death by Alistair Overeem, but Teixeira is an incredibly skilled fighter and a great name to have involved in their Heavyweight division. A fight against Gerges is a perfect test for him. The bout between Amrani and Kubo will prove to be an important fight for the 65kg division as Kubo won the GLORY 65kg tournament this year, while Amrani lost to the runner up, Masaaki Noiri.

Earlier this month we announced that Ernesto Hoost would be Fighting Peter Aerts for the sixth time in Osaka, Japan on October 19th. Hoost has won 3 of the 5, so this gives Aerts the chance to tie it up for good, since i doubt they will be fighting for a seventh time, but then again I never expected to see this fight again.

The rest of the WKO: The Kumite Energy main fights have now been announced and we get to see more of the old K-1 names we grew to love. Both Stephan Leko and Chalid "Die Faust" Arrab will be fighting. Leko has been fighting quite frequently lately but having no success at all, he is on a 6 fight losing streak, with the last 5 losses all coming by KO or TKO. If he can't turn it around this fight, we would have to imagine he cannot keep this up much longer. Die Faust on the other hand, has not been very active, hasn't fought since 2010 but has lost his last 5 fights and his last win was in 2006.

So Badr Hari will be fighting in just a matter of hours now (10:00am Eastern time) and yeah, we know, if you live in the United States there is absolutely nothing convenient about the timing for this event. It's early morning on a Thursday, not exactly the same thing as staying up for a K-1 or PRIDE event on the weekends like everyone was used to years ago by a long shot. That being said, if you can do it (or live in Europe), you'll only have to plonk down $5 USD to watch GFC 3 featuring Badr Hari, Peter Aerts, Peter Graham and Stefan Leko.

It's building up to be an interesting show, at least. $5 for an internet PPV (which most of you hate anyway) isn't bad by a longshot. So check it out here. We'll have a full rundown of the event later on in the day.